The Georgia Tech-built solar house goes on display at Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum in Cartersville this weekend. AJC/Jamie Gumbrecht

For months, the tiny black-and-white building surrounded by solar panels at Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum has gotten a lot of curious stares. It’s in clear view as people walk into the museum, but easy to forget when there are dinosaurs and geodes in front of you.

During Tellus’ Solarbration event this weekend, that little house will start to get the attention it deserves. It’s the Solar Decathlon House built by Georgia Tech students for the 2007 competition and it’ll open its doors to visitors who want to see what it means to live off the grid.

Check out more photos of the solar home, too!

The museum already has solar panels large enough to produce energy for the planetarium and then some.  The 650-square-foot house is nestled among them. It runs itself with 27 solar panels on the roof, 16 batteries, water storage tanks and other nods to efficiency, like white walls that light the inside.

Tellus education director Cantey Smith stands inside the solar house. AJC/Jamie Gumbrecht

“Cozy” is the kind word for it. “Cramped” is the harsher one. It’s tastefully decorated and a great way to get an up-close explanation of how “sustainable” doesn’t have to mean “camping in the woods.” It would fit in the back yards of most homes here, but a New Yorker would envy the built-in storage space. I was charmed by the camouflaged, half-size dishwasher — a response, I’m sure, to the chore I hate most.

The U.S. Department of Energy runs the Solar Decathlon competition to raise awareness about solar energy. (The competition is going on right now, but Georgia Tech is sitting out this year.) Students who helped to build the house will be on site Saturday to lead tours.

Solarbration also includes the debut of a new planetarium show, “Heart of the Sun,” and kids activities like solar car tracks and UV-bead bracelet making. At 7 p.m., Lane Duncan and Jason Brown from Georgia Tech will give a lecture about the house and Green Habitats. The house  is on a five-year loan to the museum, and tours be available on weekends and to student groups.

“It was a no-brainer,” museum director Jose Santamaria said this week. “We’ve already got the solar panels — what an addition. There’s a lot of science in this. It’s still being developed.”

About 250 students poured years into creating the house, whether they were leading the project or raising money. To build another house like this would cost $250,000 to $350,000, said Russell Gentry, a Georgia Tech associate professor of architecture. Students weren’t paid for their labor, but they bought about $40,000 worth of pizza, he jokes.

If you can’t make it up to see the house they built, here’s a nice video about how it came together.

You can also get a pretty good view of the house in “All That is Human,” a student film shot inside the house last year. (Before you get to watching, do know that the film science fiction and not exactly child-friendly.)

Want to go? Solarbration runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum, 100 Tellus Dr., Cartersville. $8-$12, free for members and active military. 770-606-5700, www.tellusmuseum.org.